<p>We've all heard that colleges love to see "upward trends" in students' high school performances. Many of us fit that description: crummy freshmen year, better sophomore, stellar junior year and 1st semester of senior year. But do colleges really give this trend that much weight, or is it really only the perfect secondary school record kids who make it in? Can a student who starts out averagely but finishes strong ever have the same admissions success as a student with perfect numbers (assuming same quality essays, ec's, etc)? Please post your opinions. And could those of you who were admitted into your dream schools with an upward trend record kindly share your stories?</p>
<p>I think my sister had a B average for freshman year. She even got a C in Latin. She was, however, taking all Honors and Advanced courses, so she might not quite fit the model. She did have a very strong upward trend to nearly straight A’s in her junior year and got into Northwestern.</p>
<p>Freshman year-one C, a lot of Bs, some As. Only 1 honor class.
Sophomore year-Straight B’s first semester, and then 4 As and 2 Bs second semester, with 1 AP, 2 honors.
Junior year-3 APs, 1 honor. 3 As and 3 Bs both semesters.
Senior year-4 APs.</p>
<p>I can’t show you my transcript, but it definitely shows a decent upward trend from freshman year, with my grades remaining steady starting the second semester of 10th grade. That C sticks out like a sore thumb though.</p>
<p>But I did get accepted to the University of San Francisco with a 20k scholarship offer. Very surprising for me, considering my overall 3.5 GPA. I’m pretty pleased.</p>
<p>So I would definitely focus on the upward trend, along with excellent extracurriculars/community service/leadership, and of course, SAT and ACT scores. That’s what I did. : )</p>